Chapter Text
Nobody knows that Jeon Jeongguk has a secret. Nobody knows, and that’s more than okay for him because it’s called ’secret’ for a reason.
———
Jeongguk is creeping alongside the school’s brick wall and stops at the corner. He looks around carefully, and when concludes that there’s no one nearby, he takes a tiny metal can from the pocket of his backpack, and crouches next to the dense bushes which are the dividing line between the parking area and the schoolyard.
“Hey~ Hey, come out,” he whispers and nervously looks around again. “It’s just me, I brought you— Oh, here you are!”
A fond smile spreads across Jeongguk’s features and his dark eyes soften. A tiny cat with ginger fur crawls out of a bush and greets the boy with a happy, short ’meow’. The cat runs to Jeongguk who pets its head and scratches its back.
“There you go, I brought you something to eat,” Jeongguk says while skillfully opening the can of cat food with a can opener. “I hope you like this flavour, it’s mackerel.”
He puts the can on the ground and the cat immediately flings over to it, sniffing and nibbling a little before finally burrowing its face in the can.
“So cute,” Jeongguk chuckles when, after finishing the food, the cat places one little paw on his knee and meows again. He caresses the silky fur and the cat rubs its face against his hand. “You liked the meal, didn’t you? Mackerel is your fave?”
The cat starts purring and Jeongguk’s heart flutters as he’s stroking the fuzzy, ginger fur. He could stay like this for hours, enjoying the velvety softness under his palm and listening to the calming purr but the school bell rings obnoxiously loud and it’s the sign that Jeongguk has to go.
”Sorry buddy, I have to go now,” he grimaces at the cat which tilts its head and looks up at the boy with its amber, curious eyes. ”Being a human is really exhausting, y’know? I envy you and your sixteen hours of sleep per day,” Jeongguk sighs and stands up.
”That fucking Min gave me detention. Again. Teachers are pain in the ass,” he continues with a frown. The cat curls its tail while meowing and playfully slapping the chain on Jeongguk’s ripped, black jeans. The bell rings again and Jeongguk mentally prepares himself for the next two hours of utter boredom.
”Bye,” he waves at the feline and receives a short huff in return. “I can’t believe that I’m talking to an animal,” he mutters while sneaking alongside the wall again.
When hears light footsteps following him, Jeongguk turns back and hisses at the cat behind him. The cat blinks and meows but doesn’t move. Jeongguk sighs heavily, picks up the slender body and takes the feline back, next to the can of cat food. He bends down to pet the ginger fur one last time, and smiles when sees that the cat is tapping the empty can with his tiny, pink nose.
“Cute,” he giggles before turning away and heading towards the school gate.
On his way to the classroom where the detention is, a tall guy bumps into Jeongguk’s shoulder.
”Watch your way, shithead!” The guy snaps but when he realizes who’s standing in front of him, he murmurs an apology and rushes away.
Jeongguk looks after him with a satisfied smirk. At least in this goddamn school, he is someone, at least here he has a name and everyone knows it.
(A name what everyone knows and whispers in fear, but that doesn’t matter. Jeongguk convinces himself that he has no friends because he doesn’t even want one.)
((It’s sometimes a little bit lonely, watching his classmates laugh and joke around while Jeongguk is sitting in the back row, completely alone and silent. But only a little bit and that doesn’t matter. Jeongguk convinces himself that he could laugh and joke around with them if he wanted to.))
———
Jeongguk doesn’t know anymore how many detentions he got only this month, he stopped counting a while ago. Today Mr. Min gave him detention because he drew a very detailed and naturalistic penis with a permanent marker on the teacher’s desk and later doodled a pretty ugly caricature of Mr. Min on the margin of his textbook.
(Fuck you, Mr. Min, you can’t appreciate what true art is.)
Detentions are usually really boring, but Jeongguk thinks that it still worth it, because one of his life goals is to see how red Mr. Min’s face can turn with anger and today’s was definitely the deepest shade so far.
———
Jeongguk steps into the room and shortly nods towards Mr. Min as a greeting, flashing a grin at the teacher. The man frowns and Jeongguk's looking forward to rile him up again. But that can wait, he has two whole hours after all, so at first he decides to act like a good boy. He throws himself on a chair and reluctantly reaches for his backpack to take his homework from it, when the teacher suddenly speaks.
“Sit five seats apart, Jeon.”
Jeongguk looks up, confused, and only that’s when he notices another boy next to him. Oh.
Maybe detention won’t be that boring today. Jeongguk grins and doesn’t move.
“What’s your name?” He asks the boy who flinches at the voice and stares at him with big, surprised eyes.
“Kim Taehyung,” he replies and his voice is so low, it doesn’t fit his boyish face.
“No talking!” Mr. Min barks at them and Taehyung quickly focuses on his homework again. “And I said five seats apart!”
Jeongguk ignores the teacher and continues the conversation, “Why are you here, Taehyung-sshi? I’m Jeongguk, by the way.”
“Jeon!” Mr. Min’s fit bangs on the desk and Jeongguk can see the throbbing nerve on his temple.
”Yes? I was just being polite,” he blinks innocently at the teacher and waits for the exploding.
”Jeon Jeongguk, I swear to god that one more word and I’ll—” the man starts, annoyance and anger obvious in his voice, but he has no chance to explain what he would do because the door opens and another boy appears.
And god, Jeongguk couldn’t care less about Mr. Min’s reddening face anymore.
He has never believed in love at first sight. But the boy who walks in is so glorious, so ridiculously cute that Jeongguk’s heart starts pounding against his ribcage as fast and hard as if it would want to jump out of his chest. It feels like being hit by a thunderbolt, the world suddenly falls apart and Jeongguk’s mind goes completely blank.
The boy’s round, chubby cheeks are flushed and his ginger hair is messy. He looks small and vulnerable in the baggy, fluffy hoodie he wears, and only the tips of his fingers are visible because of his sweater paws. Weird, foreign feeling wakes in Jeongguk’s belly, it’s hot and overwhelming, and the heat washes over his entire body from the toes to the very tips of his ears. The strange desire to protect this tiny, huggable boy with all his adorableness and innocence is so strong, it makes Jeongguk’s legs feel like jelly.
“I’m sorry for being late but I had to help to Mr. Jung,” Ridiculously Cute Boy mumbles with an apologizing bow.
Even his voice is so damn adorable, high-pitched, melodic and smooth. Jeongguk can feel his mouth drying and throat tightening.
Because yeah, Jeon Jeongguk – despite his reputation – likes cute things. Like, for example, cats. Or baby birds, or a Pikachu-onesie, or slippers with bunny ears. And this boy is the goddamn fucking epitome of cuteness; the sweetest creature he has ever had the pleasure of viewing in his life.
“Fine, whatever,” Mr. Min shrugs but there is an indulgent, barely visible smile on his lips. “What’s your name?”
“Park Jimin.”
“Okay, Park, sit down five seats apart the others and be quiet.”
Park Jimin? So that’s the name of this angelic fluffball. Jeongguk stares at him while furrowing his brows, because it sounds so familiar…
Oh.
Oh right, he remembers: last week he smashed the glass of the school’s trophy cabinet in the hall (It was an accident, okay? It was not his fault that when some dickface threw at him a soccer ball and Jeongguk threw it back, the ball went to a wrong direction.), and one of his punishments was to clean all the trophies and glue the broken ones. And there were three trophies with the name ’Park Jimin’ on them; one for science and two for mathematics competitions. He remembers clearly of these trophies because he suffered with gluing them for almost an hour.
Tch, mathematics and science competition? What a nerd, Jeongguk snorts, while checking out Park Jimin in his puffy hoodie and green glasses again.
But all of his contempt flies out the window immediately when Park Jimin smiles at Taehyung and oh god, Jeongguk feels whipped. Because Jimin’s smile makes his insides melt and it’s so blinding as if someone would suddenly put the freaking sun into the middle of the classroom. Jimin’s smile lights up Jeongguk’s whole existence, every color somehow feels brighter and the world is a peaceful and wonderful place for a moment.
What the actual fuck.
Yes, Jeongguk feels utterly and completely whipped. How he had never seen this gorgeous hottie before? He assumes that Jimin is an upperclassman and that’s why they did not notice each other till now.
Jimin sits down and takes off his glasses to clean them. Jeongguk’s watching him like a hawk, not missing the way Jimin sucks his plump, pink lips in, and he suddenly gets hit with the urge of running his tongue over those lips and kissing the breath out of Jimin.
“Jeon Jeongguk, do your homework,” Mr. Min warns him, his tone is raspy with hidden anger, but this time this fact doesn’t satisfies but simply annoys Jeongguk.
Jimin’s head jerks up at the name and shyly, warily glances in Jeongguk’s direction. When their eyes meet, Jimin’s cheeks turn rosy under Jeongguk’s intense glare and blinks furiously while looking away. Sparkles are running up and down his spine, and Jeongguk smirks.
Jimin is cute, so freaking tooth-rotting cute.
“There are things I would rather do instead of homework,” he licks his chapped bottom lip, his eyes are following Jimin’s movements with interest. Jimin swallows hard, his gaze never meets with Jeongguk’s as he nervously cleans his glasses with those soft, petite hands of his. The afternoon sunshine paints a golden halo around his figure and it’s so pretty that it seems unearthly.
“Jeongguk, if you don’t want Saturday detentions, then I recommend you to stop staring, shut the hell up and start your homework. Right now!” Mr. Min shouts while slapping the table. Jeongguk curses under his breath and tears his gaze away from Jimin.
Park Jimin is might the epitome of cuteness but Saturday detentions are the epitome of living hell and all the torture in the world, so Jeongguk – even though his hands are gripping the pen so tight that his knuckles turn white – tries to focus on his goddamn homework and not on that how nice and sharp Jimin’s jawline is and how deliciously thick his thighs are.
Jimin rolls his shoulders and a soft sigh leaves his mouth while the hot water cascades down his body, the tired and tense muscles slowly start to relax.
He still feels Jeon Jeongguk’s piercing gaze on himself (it left his skin prickling), and he doesn’t understand the situation, not at all. Jeongguk was not-so-subtly staring at him for two whole hours and even when the detention finished and he was heading home with Taehyung, Jimin felt the boy's gaze travelling up and down his body. Today was the first time he saw him up close, that little punk, and Jimin didn't do anything wrong to him. Then why?
It’s not like he didn’t know who Jeon Jeongguk, The Jeon Jeongguk is – no, there is no one in the entire school who doesn’t know that name. Jeongguk is famous – or more like, infamous. A sophomore with an ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude, bad behaviour and surprisingly good grades.
Everyone knows that Jeongguk rarely comes to school and even when he comes, he likes to skip or sleep through classes. Everyone knows that he only pays attention when it comes to arts or sports. At the other lessons he usually just sits in the back row, spaced out and listening to music with earbuds, hoodie or beanie on his head and his worn out Timberland boots on the desk.
There are rumors about people got beaten up by Jeongguk and were hospitalized. There are rumors about that Jeongguk once set fire to principal Kim Namjoon’s office and that’s why the walls are sooty in some places. There are rumors about that one teacher, Bang Sihyuk was hit by Jeongguk’s motorcycle because he didn’t give the boy the grade he wanted. There are rumors about Jeongguk fighting with gangsters, Jeongguk being a thief or a drug dealer. But of course, these are just rumors, Jimin had thought.
Till today. Because today when he walked into the classroom where the detention was, he finally saw Jeon Jeongguk in person and – and yes, that kid was no joke. From the corner of his eye, Jimin studied Jeongguk (he wouldn’t have dared to openly stare) who wore ripped skinny jeans and chains, a plain white shirt, black leather jacket and a red beanie. It was pretty normal, moreover, if Jimin wants to be completely honest with himself, he even found Jeongguk kind of hot. Yeah, kind of really hot and attractive.
But his stare…
His stare was terrifying.
Jeongguk’s whole presence became dangerous because of that deathly stare, as if he would eat puppies for breakfast every day and listen to nothing but Linkin Park. There was something in his stare what peeled Jimin’s skin away with predatory hunger and set his flesh aflame. It frightened Jimin when their eyes met, he had never felt more exposed before. Jeongguk scanned him like a piece of meat, ready to devour him alive.
Jimin, even though he is standing in the shower now, shivers at the memory.
The last thing he wants is the attention of the school’s delinquent, Jeon Jeongguk.
Ever since he had moved to the capital, half a year ago, everyone constantly made fun of him because of his ‘country’ dialect. Also, it turned out that being good at math and science is not cool, it’s more like, ’nerdy’, so Jimin quickly learned not to look anyone directly in the eye, because it seemed that city-kids like to pick a fight for no good reason.
Jimin sighs heavily and closes the tap. He shouldn’t care about Jeon Jeongguk this much, because he probably (hopefully) had already forgot such an average guy like Jimin. Tomorrow will surely be quiet and calm, like usually.